Police: Body that of missing woman

For more than a week, 28-year-old Nailah Franklin's family sent out mass e-mails, organized searches and prayed for her return after she failed to show up for an important meeting at work.

On Friday, they got the news that Franklin was dead, her badly decomposed body identified from dental records.

"This is a tragic loss. They're trying to cope with it as best as possible," the Rev. Michael Sykes said after emerging from Franklin's sister's apartment building on Friday afternoon.

Franklin was reported missing Sept. 19, a day after she sent an uncharacteristically vague text message to friends and family saying that she was having dinner and would call later. She never did. Two days later, her car and some personal items were found near an abandoned building in Hammond, Ind.

Then, Thursday, her unclothed, decomposing body was found behind several vacant businesses in Calumet City, three miles from Hammond.

The cause of death has not been determined though forensic evidence still was being processed, Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Bond said investigators have not determined where the woman died, and department investigators are working with the FBI and the Calumet City Police Department. She said the case is being characterized as a death investigation, not a homicide investigation, because the cause of death had not yet been determined.

Franklin, a sales representative for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, had recently filed a police report about threatening phone calls she received from a man she dated briefly. Chicago police have said they've interviewed someone Franklin dated but have not named a suspect in her disappearance.

Family members and volunteers papered the city with fliers and took out a newspaper ad seeking the public's help. They also has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

"Their family would like to express their deepest gratitude to Chicago, Calumet City and other police departments, plus the FBI agents who worked so diligently to find Nailah," said the Rev. Stacey Edwards-Dunn, who went with Sykes to the sister's home. "And very importantly, they express their thanks to the community for all their search efforts, prayers and heartfelt expressions."